As soon as once more, accidents have derailed Mike Trout’s season. Los Angeles Angels GM Perry Minasian introduced on Thursday that Trout, who has not performed since April 29 due to a torn left meniscus, has torn the meniscus once more, and can miss the remainder of 2024. He performed solely 29 video games earlier than the preliminary damage in April. His 10 residence runs led MLB on the day he was positioned on the injured record.
A wide range of accidents restricted Trout to solely 266 of 648 potential video games from 2021-24, or 41%. That features 41 video games after the All-Star break in these 4 seasons mixed. Trout doesn’t have one power damage that retains popping up. It is one thing new every year: a calf pressure in 2021, again hassle in 2022, a damaged hamate in 2023, and now the twice-torn meniscus in 2024.
Trout will flip 33 subsequent week and that is Yr 6 of the 12-year, $426.5 million extension he signed in March 2019. The Angels nonetheless owe him $35.45 million per 12 months from 2025-30, or $212.7 million complete. Thus far, that contract purchased the Angels an MVP-winning season in 2019, a top-five end within the MVP voting in 2020, and a bunch of accidents from 2021-24. A fast recap:
|
2019 |
$16M ($20M signing bonus) |
134 |
7.9 |
|
2020 |
$36M (prorated) |
53 (60-game season) |
2.7 |
|
2021 |
$35.45M |
36 |
1.8 |
|
2022 |
$35.45M |
119 |
6.2 |
|
2023 |
$35.45M |
82 |
2.9 |
|
2024 |
$35.45M |
29 |
0.9 |
|
2025-30 |
$35.45M per season |
? |
? |
Trout’s extension has gone bitter however you needn’t really feel dangerous for the Angels or proprietor Arte Moreno. Moreno doesn’t really feel dangerous for you while you pay your payments every month, and Trout was massively — massively — underpaid earlier in his profession, when he put up MVP-caliber seasons whereas being paid far below-market salaries as a pre-arbitration and arbitration-eligible participant.
The Angels are a catastrophe, probably the most rudderless franchise in baseball exterior of Denver, and Trout’s contract is proving to be a mistake. You may add it to an inventory of errors that features not buying and selling Shohei Ohtani ultimately summer season’s deadline, signing Anthony Rendon, and no matter that was once they traded prime prospects for Lucas Giolito and others final deadline, solely to waive them a month later.
Even when Trout was on the peak of his powers, the Angels went to the postseason simply as soon as, once they had been shortly swept by the Kansas Metropolis Royals within the 2014 Division Collection. In six years with Trout and Ohtani, arguably the 2 most proficient gamers within the sport, the Angels by no means posted a profitable report, not to mention went to the postseason. To name the Angels inept can be beneficiant.
Trout’s contract is proving to be a catastrophe, however it’s a transfer the Angels needed to make on the time. He was solely 27 when he signed the extension, he was the most effective participant on the planet, and he was keen to skip free company and stick with a non-marquee franchise long-term. Having the most effective participant within the sport in your roster in his prime is the toughest factor to do on this sport.
Moreover, Ohtani was named AL Rookie of the Yr in 2018, so the Angels had two prime-aged stars to construct round. They might see the sunshine on the finish of Albert Pujols’ contract too. Basically, Trout’s extension gave them 5 extra years to construct a contender round Trout and Ohtani earlier than Ohtani hit free company. 5 years with two of the most effective gamers within the sport.
And the Angels fully botched it. Moreno has not allowed the entrance workplace to exceed the aggressive stability tax threshold — that is what all of the waiver exercise was about final August, shedding payroll and avoiding CBT — and the entrance workplace has stepped on rake after rake. Poor participant growth, poor free agent signings, poor trades, poor resolution after poor resolution.
The one factor the Angels obtained proper was extending Trout via the remainder of his prime and pairing him with Ohtani. Every thing after that was a mistake, and now it is seemingly Trout is out of his prime. He is definitely out of his prime when it comes to sturdiness. He nonetheless performs very properly when he is on the sector. He is simply not on the sector fairly often. It is too dangerous. We’re being robbed of all-time greatness.
The top of Trout’s extension was all the time going to be ugly as a result of the tip of each large cash long-term deal that locks a participant up deep into his 30s will get ugly. Groups know that getting into. The Angels had Trout and Ohtani and produced zero profitable seasons. The Angels failed Trout. Trout just isn’t failing the Angel together with his accidents.